A folded line shot through the air nearby—it was actually Group Leader Jiaoma.
“Zicang, come back quickly. There’s a big mission.”
“Did the company just say something about building some kind of city?”
So this girl wasn’t coming after him after all. Yang Zicang breathed a sigh of relief.
“Yeah, just now, our company received the highest-difficulty commission to construct the battlefield for the Demon Elite rank battle. It’s been years since we’ve had this kind of rank battle; our newcomers have never done this kind of work.”
“So what?”
“All vacations are canceled. Everyone needs to come prepare for work—including you! Hmph, otherwise, if this escalates to the Council, and the New Fate Tracks send down the Demon Elite battlefield, it won’t be just an ordinary Demon Elite level. That would truly break the mental defenses of everyone here.”
Yang Zicang frowned a few times, then sighed as he looked up at the sky.
“Why does it have to be right now… Looks like my weapon is definitely hopeless.”
Fortunately, there was only about two more days left of vacation, so it wasn’t a total loss. Yang Zicang quickly made arrangements with the others, telling them to be careful and to move the camp. It would be best to send away anyone who didn’t belong with them.
Because the next time he came back here, it would likely be half a year later.
……
At the first second of midnight, the beach in Resort Zone 11 City was already completely deserted.
A rustling sound arose, and a cyan-faced figure, about 1.5 meters tall, materialized.
He wore an expensive black suit, and the leather shoes on his feet were as pointy as his nose. The fleshy ridges above his brows bulged outward, and his pupils were dazzlingly bright. His face radiated a fierce dignity, as bizarre as a statue of a deity or demon.
The man clasped his hands behind his back and spoke in a sharp, piercing voice: “This crappy place is your company’s only resort zone? Tsk… it really does feel stifling, doesn’t it? Hah, a small-town dump is just a small-town dump.”
{Lord Executive, please do not be so critical. We will apply for a scenic true-mind field for your entertainment and leisure during this period.}
“Who cares about those phony things?”
The strange being, whose face did not resemble a human’s, glanced left and right at the beach and plants, and then at the distant city behind him.
His long, sharply pointed ears perked up slightly, clearly picking up the sound of the distant windstorm and the roars of the monsters within the city.
“Tch, what a racket.”
{We can deploy a field to block out these sounds.}
“Forget it. I was just coming for a look first.”
{I earnestly ask for your consent.}
“First stop done,” the person said, facing the broad lake on the beach as they let the night breeze blow over them. “Next, let’s go for a visit to your company. As for whether things will work out, I need to think it over.”
{As you wish.}
Behind this person, a dreamlike, shimmering energy door appeared. Starlight elegantly traced magical runes on it, forming a tunnel where all sorts of scenes shifted like interlaced projections.
The strange figure turned and stepped into it, vanishing from sight.
……
“The meeting is about to begin.”
“It’s a midnight meeting, no less.”
Inside the Lost Illusion Company, on a road paved with vintage tiles, a handsome man carrying documents and graceful ladies rushed past quickly.
Yang Zicang, standing by the corner of the road, watched the direction they were heading. Even at midnight, the entire company was bustling with an urgent atmosphere. It seemed that the sudden task of crafting the Magic Hero Palace wasn’t going to be easy to handle.
Zorro, dressed in a gray-black overcoat uniform, walked over. Watching the hurried passersby, he sighed, “It really takes that many people, huh?”
“Let’s go. The sooner the meeting ends, the sooner we can sleep.”
In the Gothic-style ancient building that served as the venue, Red Executive Officer Huan Bao’er sat at the head of a wide, long table.
Hundreds of employees of the Lost Illusion Company, all wearing gray-black overcoats, gradually took their seats on both sides of this hundred-meter-long table.
As if by a miracle, even across such a vast distance, everyone could clearly see the figures at both ends. This reminded Yang Zicang of the Moon Shadow monster sealed inside Qin Meng. As long as that monster appeared in a creature’s field of vision, no matter how far away, it could be seen clearly.
Scanning around, Yang Zicang spotted Jiaoma dozens of meters away, sitting with a notebook spread open and holding a pen.
Jiaoma seemed to sense something and looked up.
Yang Zicang nodded to her. The girl forced a faint smile, baring a fake grin at him.
Footsteps sounded from behind, and a strange man sat down in the empty seat to Yang Zicang’s left, then patted him on the shoulder.
“Hello there, you must be Mr. Yang Zicang, the newcomer.”
“Yes, I am. What’s your surname?”
“Ba Haitao, I was very inspired by your actions last month. Standing firm against such a formidable opponent without compromising until the very end truly makes you a role model for all of us.”
“Thank you.”
A few people passing by behind them heard this and exclaimed in surprise, “So you are Yang Zicang.”
He was like a minor celebrity, with passersby patting him on the shoulder and offering words of praise.
As several hundred people took their seats, a male executive stood up next to Huan Bao’er. His clear voice echoed through the spacious hall.
“Fellow colleagues, I am Gong Huanwu from the First Action Department. This time, a town mayor has applied for the highest-intensity assessment of the year-end ranking battle—the Demon Elite level battlefield!”
The crowd below murmured softly among themselves.
Yang Zicang was slightly startled; was this task triggered by the application of a “town mayor”?
“Moying Class, which is even higher than Crimson Moon Class—I’ve only heard about it today.”
“It seems to be a level only found above the Fate Track; it basically never appears here.”
Gong Huanwu raised his hand and pressed down, gradually silencing the murmurs among the crowd. This officer then continued:
“Although we can seek lower-level battlefields from above the Fate Track, doing so would cost our company a very significant price. Moreover, the intensity of such an assessment is not something that the current electors can handle.”
“All of you here are elite colleagues whose work is on track. I have summoned you to collaborate and create a Demon Elite-Class battlefield for our company. If we can successfully produce this and thereby apply for the self-made qualification from the Demon Elite Hall, it would be a great boon for our company.”
As his voice paused, a group leader raised their hand and asked:
“May I ask, Executive Officer Gong Huanwu? Is the Demon Elite-Class ranking battlefield the same size as the Crimson Moon-Class interdimensional zone?”
“I will provide you all with the relevant materials for the Demon Elite-Class Arena later. But we must create an arena that is different from those of other Demon Elite Halls.”
“Arena?”
“Yes, it’s about the size of a small city. The Demon Hero level isn’t like the ordinary pre-new year combat—it’s not just a duel between two chief teams. It can hold multiple teams at once, even allowing everyone from two cities to enter together. So…”
Gong Huanwu’s gaze turned solemn: “It’s a confrontation between two cities!”
“Ah! Then, isn’t that a city-destroying battle!”
The discussions grew much louder all of a sudden.
“The maximum capacity is people from two cities?”
“How many people would die in that one battle!”
“So that’s why they gathered so many of us. This is no small task.”
Everyone was exchanging views, and Zorro leaned over, lowering his voice:
“That’s like asking us to build an Olympic stadium, isn’t it.”
Suddenly, this sentence rang clearly in everyone’s ears, and they all looked over. Zorro, who had intended to whisper, instantly flushed with embarrassment and lowered his head sheepishly.
His words had been amplified.
Yang Zicang quickly adjusted his posture, relieved that he hadn’t said anything strange. The traps here were truly baffling.
Huan Bao’er, seated at the head, gently clapped her hands to draw everyone’s attention:
“Little Luo’s analogy is very apt. We must approach this matter with the same attitude as hosting a world games. Your task is to design an arena of competition to test the capabilities of two cities. It must be able to accommodate at least twenty thousand people entering together.”
Yang Zicang hadn’t yet processed this information when he saw Huan Bao’er lift a finger, and a phantom of a palace appeared above the long table arranged upright in the center of the ancient meeting hall.
As they gazed at it, the information it contained naturally surfaced in everyone’s minds.
[Demon Hero Palace Arena City — Crown of the Green Lotus]
It was a massive building on the water.
The attendees looked at the colossal structure, which seemed like a manifestation of whispers from prehistoric visions.
Rough, bold, aged, and wild, yet at its pinnacle stood an exquisitely crafted pyramid, as if ancient savages had used their bare hands to create an unadorned, peerless monument that could endure beyond the verge of civilization itself.
The apex of the pyramid was flat, upon which rested a lotus platform. There should have been something within the circular rim, but it was no longer there.
Huan Bao’er said:
“Although, ever since I assumed the role of General Director, our company has not produced any more Colosseum Dome-level cities, such structures were indeed built once by the company in the distant past.”
She joined the others in gazing at the primordial structure.
“This Colosseum Dome hall—was it perhaps a work of our company long ago?”
Huan Bao’er nodded. She gestured with her eyes for Gong Huanwu to continue.
“This Colosseum Dome hall dates back many years.”
Said Gong Huanwu, “Like all Intersection Fields, most structures in this city were combined from various Dissonance Bands discovered and gathered by the Spectrum Monitoring Department.”
He wields a thumb-thick short staff, pointing it from afar at the phantom image of the Colosseum Dome hall.
“The Action Division, utilizing their own psychic power to distort and recreate similar bands, assembled them together, and through meticulous design, crafted this hall.”
Everyone scrutinized the projection closely.
Yan Zicang observed the delicate architecture. It appeared so desolate and primitive, like an amalgamation of various ‘construction waste.’ Only the crown atop its head proclaimed its extraordinary purpose, transforming the piece into a work of art enshrouded in pure, rustic antiquity.
Zorro slightly turned sideways and whispered yet again:
“Building this thing likely requires the collaboration of the Fragmentation Team and the Action Team.”
“That should be the idea. You stabilize the terrain information, and we will reconstruct and combine it.”
This task doesn’t seem particularly difficult on the surface. But once you actually get to work, it’s like comparing building blocks to constructing a house—the difficulty is on an entirely different level.
Huan Bao’er took over the conversation and said:
“The Company will apply for permission for all of you to access a certain Secret Treasure. It will help strengthen your spiritual energy, reaching a frequency capable of generating an Enchanted Field.”
The crowd buzzed with discussion. One person raised a hand and asked, “But October is almost here. Will three months be enough?”
“In the first two months, I’ll apply for a Sequential Expansion state. However, that will impact the stability of this region, so at best, I can secure an additional two months for everyone.”
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